The present Invention is directed to a method and apparatus for holding cargo, especially palletized cargo, in position inside a partially loaded vehicle.
Cargo moved in vehicles such as trucks, trailers, rail cars and airplanes commonly is placed upon pallets for ease of handling by forklifts or other mechanized equipment. Even cargo which may be unloaded manually, at different locations, frequently is loaded by forklift, and therefore palletized.
When trucks, trailers and the like handling palletized cargo are loaded to less than capacity, or where initially full-capacity loads are partially depleted by deliveries, there is a necessity for restraining the remaining palletized cargo in the partially filled vehicle so that it will not vibrate around the cargo space, become dislodged or the like while the vehicle is in motion. For this purpose, a variety of devices are available. Known generally as "load locks" they involve the use of bars, hoops, gates, curtains, netting or the like which extends between, and are attached to, opposed walls, or in some cases between the floor and ceiling, of the cargo area. Some cargo trailers come from the factory with grids installed along the walls for the purpose of engaging load lockers at desired locations.
Several drawbacks are presented by prior art load lockers. Each is specific to a particular truck, trailer or other cargo vehicle, so that they usually are not interchangeable between vehicles. Cargo locking points are provided only at discrete locations along the length of the cargo area. Therefore, it often is necessary to rearrange cargo or to "fill" between the palletized cargo and the pre-set load locking points in order for the load locks to be effective. The grids, latches or other means on the wails of the trailers for engaging the load lockers may damage cargo as it is loaded or unloaded. In some instances, the load lockers are designed to exert compression or torsion on the cargo. These may cause the walls of the trailers to bow outward, or may exert such compression or on the cargo as to damage fragile cargo boxes.